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Vashi2Panvel.com: Navi Mumbai: November 24: Koena Mitra is known more for her sizzling dance moves in Road and Musafir and the MMS clip, featuring a steamy bathroom scene with Fardeen, than for her acting abilities. But she looks determined to get to change that.

For starters she is known in Bollywood circles for her professionalism. “That is how I am. I scare people at times, by turning up before my allotted time. Sajid Khan would tell me that I can never become a star because I would report at the sets even before the sweeper guy”, laughs Koena. One thing is that you have to admit that she is genuine at what ever she says. She doesn’t make an effort to sugar coat her words and yet speaks her mind without making anyone uncomfortable.

Commenting on the MMS clip being circulated with a lot of gusto, Koena insists there is nothing weird about it. “What happened is, that we finished shooting the song just five days before the release of the movie, which left us no time to publicise it. The song is very much part of the movie. The makers came up with the idea of circulating it as an MMS, and putting it up on the net, so that people download it like crazy. And now it’s the talk of the town”, retorts Koena with a shrug.

MMS is a novel idea indeed, but a link up is another age old formula for publicity. The recent link ups by the Bhatt camp, about Celina Jaitely and Emraan Hashmi having a sizzling affair during foreign shoots, to promote their upcoming movie is the best example of celebrities being used as scapegoats. How far is Koena willing to go to promote her film is what is on everyone’s minds as of now. “I was not informed about the MMS being circulated for publicity beforehand. But I was okay with it, because I had already shot for it, as part of the movie. So there was nothing for me to be ashamed of. But what happened with Celina cannot and should not be tolerated. No filmmaker can ever tell me what to do in my private life, to promote his movie”, she says adamantly. “If Celina is upset about the recent happenings, she has every right to be so.”

Looks like she has her priorities set right.

How did she land herself only glamorous roles so far then. “That is totally the film makers vision, and how he wants to project you. I am more than willing to experiment with my image, if a maker has faith in me. But it is probably my modelling background that gave me the glamorous image in the first place”, she opines and continues with a guffaw, “there are different categories of heroines here. The girl next door category, the sexy siren category and the bold category.”

Another known category.. errr… fact in the industry circles is that Koena loathes being labelled as an ‘item girl’ (which is why she didn’t have an item girl category in her list). “How can you label any woman as an ‘item’. I feel it is very degrading to call any artist, or performer as an item girl, especially since I’ve moved on and am doing full length movie roles now. Isn’t my being infuriated justified?” she says with a quizzical glance. Well, it is justified Koena, you can calm down.

What else about this industry bothers her? “One thing that really bugs me, is that just because I am a single woman, if I party or be open and frank with everyone, they will assume that I am available. And if I keep to myself, word will spread that I am an arrogant b***h. they will think that just because I am doing films I’m a snob. But I’d rather be known as a snob than as ‘available’.” We suggested that she get herself a boyfriend so she will be spared the unnecessary hassles. To which she laughs out loud and says, “that way, I will never have any peace nor privacy in my life, with everyone around wanting to know all about us, if we still are together, or if we’ve split and stuff…. The pressure would be too much to handle”, she sighs.

Finally our conversation turned to filmi parties. She’s not being seen there much. “I party only with close friends”, she says.

But Koena knows what she wants and what she doesn’t from the industry. For instance she knows she doesn’t want to do itsy bitsy roles again. And that she wants to work with reputed banners only henceforth. And that she is very keen to work in an action movie, but in Hollywood! Yes. You heard it right. “I honestly don’t trust Indian film makers to present their action heroines very well. They’d make women look so funny doing action sequences.” Not a very smart remark to make, especially when she’s struggling to gain a strong foothold in the industry. But we told you, she’s not a fake who would go ga ga and sugar coat just about everything.


Sujata Anthony Reddy